Automatic traversing machine gun unit



y 5, 1965 G. o. NOVILLE ET AL 3,259,018

AUTOMATIC TRAVERSING MACHINE GUN UNIT 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 9,1956 M m m w.

Gennge IlNuvilla BY Samuel Lfiula.

y 1965 G. o. NOVlLLE ET AL 3,259,018

AUTOMATIC TRAVERSING MACHINE GUN UNIT Filed Nov. 9, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet2 JG I \j INVENTORS, EEnRge llNuville Samuel L- 5 01a.

y 5, 1956 G. o. NOVILLE ET AL 3,259,018

AUTOMATIC TRAVERSING MACHINE GUN UNIT Filed Nov. 9, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet6 IIIJIJIA A VAiIZ -I nu w INVENTOR5, GEuRgE UNnviUe BY SETHLLEI L- 5Ella.

Mam, augfixmoajw United States Patent 3,259,018 AUTOMATIC TRAVERSING MACGUN UNIT George 0. Noville, Woodland Hills, and Samuel L. 80121, LosAngeles, Calif, assignors to the United States of America as representedby the Secretary of the Army Filed Nov. 9, 1956, Sen. No. 621,489 4Claims. (CI. 89-41) The invention relates to remote controlled automatictraversing machine guns, particularly machine guns of the type which aretraversed by the recoil of the gun.

It is often desired to increase the fire power of armored vehiclesduring combat for special purposes, and the present invention pertainsto an auxiliary machine gun unit which may be attached to such a vehicleor may also be used in a fixed position, such as a pillbox, if it isdesired to cover a specific area for a limited time.

It is an object of the invention to design an auxiliary machine gun unitwhich is self-contained, may be mounted anywhere and is fired by remotecontrol.

Another object of the invention is to design an auxiliary machine gununit which may be charged and fired by remote control and willautomatically traverse the gun through a predetermined angle of fire.

A further object of the invention is to design a machine gun traversingmechanism which is operated automatically by the recoil of the gun andmay be adjusted to vary the sweep of the gun.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent whenviewed in regard to the accompanying specification and drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a machine guns mounted on a tank.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the gun supporting base and cradle of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section elevational view of the traversing mechanismtaken along the line 33 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section elevational view of the invention taken alongthe line 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of part of the traversing mechanism taken ontheline 66 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a cross-section elevation of traversing mechanism of theinvention taken on the line 77 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the electrical circuit used with theinvention.

The machine gun unit of the invention may be effectively utilized whenmounted on the fenders of an armored vehicle, such as a tank 10 as shownin FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 a pair of gun units 12 are fastened to the fendersof tank 10 and are directed to cover the area in front of the vehicle.During firing, the guns are automatically traversed and will sweep theshaded areas. It is thus apparent how the units 12 are employed toincrease the fire power of armored combat vehicles.

The gun unit 12 is mounted within a rectangular boxlike housing 14provided with a hinged cover (not shown). The housing 14 is providedwith adjustable fastening means 18 whereby housing 14 may be secured tothe supporting vehicle, such that either end may be raised or lowered toinitially obtain the proper elevation of the gun.

All the necessary mechanism for operating a machine gun by remotecontrol are located within housing 14 and consist, in part, of anammunition locker 20 located in one side of the housing 14 and definedby partition 22. A pair of rollers 24 are journaled in one end of locker20 and serve to guide the ammunition as it is fed into guide chute 26.

The machine gun 28 is supported within housing 14, upon cradle 30, suchthat the barrel will project through a hole 32 formed in the endthereof. Machine gun 28 pair of auxiliary 3,259,018 Patented July 5,1966 is of the standard type and need not be modified for use with theunit. A pneumatic charger (not shown) is affixed to the side of gun 28and functions to bolt the gun 28 when actuated by compressed air. Thecharger may be of any commercial type, and as it forms no part of theinvention, is not shown in detail.

The compressed air source for the charger consists of a cylinder 36attached to an inner wall of housing 14 in which air may be stored undervery high pressure. A conduit 38 connects the cylinder 36 to a solenoidoperated valve 40, and conduit 42 conducts the compressed air to thecharger onto which the end of conduit 42 may be aflixed.

An ejection chute 44 is positioned below gun 28 to receive the emptycartridges and terminates in a slot, not shown, formed in the side ofhousing 14. A clip chute 46 also opens into the above mentioned slot tocarry away the clips used to link the ammunition. Thus, the usedcartridges and clips are conducted to the outside of housing 14 and willnot interfere with the operation of the unit.

A solenoid operated trigger actuator 48 is attached to cradle 30, suchthat energizing actuator 48 will trip the trigger of gun 28 regulatingthe firing thereof. A switch 50 is positioned adjacent rollers 24 foractuation by the individual rounds of ammunition during firing, for apurpose later described. Valve 40, actuator 48 and switch 50 are eachconnected to suitable wiring and converge to a multi-terminal plug 52.

The gun supporting and traverse mechanism is best shown in FIG. 3,wherein it Will be observed that cradle 30 is provided with brackets 54and 56 in which holes are bored to receive the gun mounting pins. Cradle30 is slidingly supported upon a base 58 and the gun supporting brackets54 and 56 are interconnected by rods 60. Brackets 62 and 64 are fixed tobase 58 on both sides of cradle 30 and are provided with spring guides66, which are aligned with spring guides 68 of cradle 30, Where by twosets of springs 70 and 72 may be interposed between the base bracket 62,64 and cradle 30 to absorb the recoil and return of the gun duringfiring. Thus, springs 70 will be compressed as the gun 28 recoils, andsprings 72 will cushion cradle 30 during the return stroke.

Base 58 is pivotally fixed to the bottom of housing 14 and moves aboutpivot 74. Several rollers 76 are also carried by base 58 to support thebase off of the housing floor and permit easy pivoting action.

The rear portion 78 of base 58 supports the gun traversing mechanism.The traversing structure includes an annular bearing support 80 fixed toportion 78 and arising therefrom. A bearing 82 is located Within support80.

and is adapted to journal shaft 84 therein. A cap 86 is positioned onthe upper half of shaft 84 and is provided with extending handles 88,note FIG. 2. A worm wheel 90 is rotatably supported on shaft 84 and islocated between bearing 82 and cap 86. A shaft 92 extends through shaft84 and cap 86 and is provided with a nut 94 at the upper end wherebyshaft 92 may be drawn upwardly, for a purpose later described. A clutchdog 96 is supported by means of shaft 98 and handle 100 within cap 86and is biased downwardly under the influence of spring 102 into a notchformed in worm wheel 90 and serves to clutch worm wheel 90 to the shaft84.

A shaft 104 is also rotatably supported on base portion 78, the axis ofwhich extends in a direction perpendicular to the axis of shaft 84.Shaft 104 is journaled in bearing brackets 106 and 108 and is providedwith a D ring 110 at one end. A section of shaft 104 is formed withteeth so as to constitute a ratchet 112 and is encompassed by a U shapedrocker 114. Ratchet 112 extends through a bore 116 formed within thelegs of rocker 114 permitting oscillation of rocket 114 about theratchet 112. A pawl 118 is pivotally mounted on the rocker 114 and isconstantly biased in engagement with the rachet 112 by a spring 120.

An extension 122, projecting from the bearing bracket 106, supports aleaf spring 124 which engages racket 112 insuring unidirectionalrotation.

The rocker 114 is oscillated by a link 126 (FIGS), one end of whichconnects to the pin 128 carried by the rocker 114. The other end of link126 is pinned at 130 to an extension 132 which is attached to the cradle30. A worm 133 is keyed to shaft 104 and engages worm wheel 90, suchthat rotation of shaft 104 will also cause worm 'wheel 90 to rotate.

The remaining traversing structure consists of a pair of parallel angleplates 134 which are fixed to the bottom of housing 14 beneath baseportion 78, note FIGS. 2, 6 and 7. Plates 134 are adapted to receive arotatable lipped roller 136 between them which is pivotally carried byrectangular arm 138. The plates 134 therefore act as a guide track forthe rollers 136. The arm 138 is also provided with a stepped slot 140which extends through a substantial length of the arm, note FIG. 6. Thewide portion of slot 140 provides space for shoe 142, which is anintegral part of shaft 92, so that as shaft 92 is drawn upward, aspreviously mentioned, shoe 142 draws arm 138 into frictional engagementwith shaft 84. Thus, as shaft 84 is rotated, the arm 138 and roller 136will also be rotated about the axis of shaft 84 so that arm 138functions as a crank member.

The control circuit for operating the machine gun unit by remote controlis shown in FIG. 8. The source of electric current required willnormally be from the power system of the vehicle, upon which the unit ismounted and is introduced into the control box, via conductors 144. Amain power switch 146 must be closed to permit the operation of thevarious circuits which include the means for operating the gun charger,wherein the push button switch 148 will energize the solenoid of valve40. The trigger actuator 48 is operated by the firing switch 150,however, an arming switch 152 is included in the actuator circuit as asafety feature. An indicator light 154 is connected to the switch 50,the purpose of which is described later.

The control switches are mounted on a control box which is locatedwithin the vehicle and is connected to the gun unit 12 through suitablecable to the plug 52. If it is desired to use a pair of units 12, theswitches may be located in a single control box utilizing a commonfiring switch for both units, thereby coordinating the fire.

The operation of the machine gun unit 12 is as follows:

When the housing 14 has been fixed in the proper position by thefastening means 18, the locker 20 may be filled with linked ammunitionwhich is fed over rollers 24 into chute 26 and into the gun 28. Thecover is locked in place and the unit is ready for operation. When it isdesired to fire the weapon, the main switch 146 is closed, energizingthe main circuit of the control box. Push button 148 is then depressedcausing valve 40 to be opened. This operation permits compressed airfrom cylinder 36 to actuate the pneumatic charger, thereby bolting thegun 28 and inserting a round into the firing chamber.

Before the gun 28 may be fired, the arming switch 152 must be closed,thereupon the closing of push button 150 will energize the triggeractuator 48 firing the weapon. The switch 50 is positioned, such thateach round of ammunition that passes over rollers 24 will close switch50 momentarily, thus, the light 154 will flicker at the rate the gun isbeing fired indicating to the gunner that ammunition is being fed intogun 28. Should the gun 28 jam, the light 154 will indicate stoppage, andthe gunner may press switch 148 to bolt the gun which will remedy mostmalfunctions.

As the ammunition is fired, the empty cartridge cases will be ejectedinto chute 44 and the clips will fall into 4 chute 46, therebyconducting the cases and clips out of housing 14.

As the gun is firing, the recoil forces will move cradle 30 to the left,as viewed in FIG. 2, compressing springs 70 which return the cradle 30to the neutral position, thus, the extension rod 132, which is fixed tothe cradle, will be longitudinally translated back and forth. The motionof extension 132 will cause rocker 114 to oscillate about ratchet 112through the connection of link 126. During each cycle of oscillation,the pawl 118 will engage the teeth of rachet 112 to rotate shaft 104,the intermittent rotation of shaft 104 is transmitted to shaft 84through worm 133, worm wheel and clutch dog 96, thereby causing theshaft 84 to be rotatably indexed. As shaft 84 rotates, the shaft 92,shoe 142 and arm 138 will rotate about the axis of shaft 84 therebytending to rotate roller 136, however, rotational movement of roller 136is prohibited by the plates 134, thereby causing the base 58 to beoscillated about the pivot 74. Thus, as shaft 84 rotates, the roller 136'will be translated between plates 134, while base 58 and cradle 30 willoscillate upon supporting rollers 76 which will cause the gun 26 totraverse a given area in front of the vehicle.

The angle through which gun 28 is traversed may be varied by unlooseningnut 94 and sliding shoe 142 within slot 140, changing the amount ofeccentricity between the axes of roller 136 and shaft 84, and thenretightening nut 94.

The adjustment of shoe 142 within slot 140 is facilitated by clutch dog96, which may be disengaged from the notch of worm wheel 90, by raisinghandle 100, permitting the shaft 84 to be manually roated by handles 88.

If it is desired to check the angular oscillation of base 58, the shaft104 may be manually rotated by turning D ring in the direction permittedby spring 124.

The use of a worm gearing arrangement with a rachet prevents the base 58from being displaced by violent side lurches of the vehicle and preventsplay in the traversing mechanism.

It will thus be understood that the invention may be utilized toincrease the fire power of any combat vehicle without exposing thegunner and will automatically traverse a given area for effectivecoverage.

Various modifications of the illustrated embodiments may be apparent tothose skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, and it is desired the invention be limited only by thescope of the appending claims.

We claim:

1. A traversing mechanism for a machine gun comprising a pivotallysupported base, a cradle slidingly carried by said base, a machine gunin said cradle so that recoil of said gun will reciprocate said cradle,a shaft rotatably journaled in said base, a crank member adjustablyattached to said shaft so that rotation of said shaft rotates said crankmember, a roller pivotally mounted in said crank member in eccentricrelation to said shaft, fixed guide members engaging said roller andpreventing rotational movement of said roller, and means connecting saidcradle to said shaft whereby reciprocation of said cradle rotates saidshaft and crank member thereby oscillating said base.

2. A traversing mechanism as defined in claim 1 wherein said connectingmeans comprises a pawl, means connecting said pawl to said cradle, asecond shaft journaled in said base, a ratchet on said second shaft indriving engagement with said pawl so that movement of said pawl rotatessaid second shaft, a worm wheel on said first shaft, a worm on saidsecond shaft meshing with said worm wheel so that rotation of saidsecond shaft rotates said first shaft thereby oscillating said base.

3. A traversing mechanism as defined in claim 2 Wherin said meansconnecting said pawl to said cradle comprises a rocker arm pivotallymounted about said second shaft, a link pivotally connected to saidrocker arm and said cradle so that reciprocation of said cradle rockssaid arm thereby rotating said second shaft and oscillating said base.

4. A traversing mechanism for a machine gun as defined in claim 1 andfurther comprising a rod movably attached in said shaft, a shoe on saidrod, and in which said crank member comprises an arm having a slot; saidshoe being slidable in said slot, and means to fix said shoe in a fixedposition in said slot so that the eccentricity of said roller and saidshaft can be varied thereby changing the oscillation of said base.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,413,936 4/1922Rauchfuss et al. 8941 2,409,623 10/1946 Grant 89-1 6 2,415,967 2/1947Pontius 89127 X 2,429,713 10/ 1947 Frease 89-41 X 2,454,806 11/1948Kemmer et a1 89-37.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 298,920 2/ 1920 Germany.

147,494 11/ 1921 Great Britain.

BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

SAMUEL BOYD, Examiner.

W. F. COLLINS, F. C. MATTERN, JR.,

Assistant Examiners.

1. A TRAVERSING MECHANISM FOR A MACHINE GUN COMPRISING A PIVOTALLYSUPPORTED BASE, A CRADLE SLIDINGLY CARRIED BY SAID BASE, A MACHINE GUNIN SAID CRADLE SO THAT RECOIL OF SAID GUN WILL RECIPROCATE SAID CRADLE,A SHAFT ROTATABLY JOURNALED IN SAID BASE, A CRANK MEMBER ADJUSTABLYATTACHED TO SAID SHAFT SO THAT ROTATION OF SAID SHAFT ROTATES SAID CRANKMEMBER, A ROLLER PIVOTALLY MOUNTED IN SAID CRANK MEMBER IN ECCENTRICRELATION TO SAID SHAFT, FIXED GUIDE MEMEBRS ENGAGING SAID ROLER ANDPREVENTING ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT OF SAID ROLLER, AND MEANS CONNECTING SAIDCRADLE TO SAID SHAFT WHEREBY RECIPROCATION OF SAID CRADLE ROTATES SAIDSHAFT AND CRANK MEMBER THEREBY OSCILLATING SAID BASE.